Breakfast with Dead People
by turningofflights
Summary: Daryl finds himself haunted by people of the past in his nightmares as the guilt hits him of Beth's kidnapping. In dreams, not everything makes sense, but one thing rings loud and clear: he has to find her. Bethyl. One-shot (for now... I might be persuaded). Rated T for language only.


Disclaimer: I do not own the Walking Dead.

"He's doin it again," Maggie said with an exhausted sigh. Rick followed her eyes to a scene he had grown accustomed to seeing- Daryl quietly groaning in his sleep, turning like he was in some sort of pain. The train car was small and cramped, but over the last three days that Rick, Daryl, Michonne, and Carl had joined them, they had devised a system. The far right of the car was for sleeping, the far left for talking and socializing (Exchanging "We're fucked" was usually the extent of this), and the middle, in front of the door, was for keeping guard, listening for a sign of life, of rescue on the other side of the wall.

"It's been three nights. What do you think he's dreaming about?" Glenn asked as he approached Maggie and Rick in the center of the car. As he sat, he handed Maggie half a nutrition bar allotted by their captors.

"I've got a hunch," Rick whispered, but did not elaborate.

* * *

_The house smelled of cinnamon. Daryl was unsure of exactly where he was, but it felt familiar, and he didn't question it. The part of him that knew he was dreaming whispered in his ear, but he ignored it for now, accepting his surroundings as his reality. The house was small- three bedrooms with warm chestnut wood floors and a brick fireplace in the living room. Daryl walked around the house, exploring. One of the bedrooms contained a piano, guitar, and crumpled paper strewn all over the place. The second bedroom was closed, and he didn't go inside._

_He settled on the room at the end of the hall. It was cleaner than his room growing up, but he still had a touch of personality in it. The comforter on the queen bed was a red flannel that she bought especially for him. When she came home with a queen, he had been confused._

_"If you buy a king, you might as well be sleepin apart," she had explained. She was a big believer in her philosophy: "there are no 'sides' of the bed." He had gone along with it for her sake._

_"Daryl! Come on! I made breakfast!"_

_He, half confused by the situation, half completely understanding, walked out toward the kitchen. It was old, but she didn't want to remodel it for some reason, and he wasn't about to ask her to._

_"Wait, where's Rick?" he asked Beth as he entered the room._

_"Rick? Grimes, the sheriff? Yeah, babe, that'll be good. Your brother would take his head off if he were here. You know, accounting for handcuffing thing. Sit, sit." She ushered him to the small dining room table for three just off the kitchen."_

_"Merle?" he asked._

_"Yeah, our roommate? You okay? MERLE, BREAKFAST IS READY!" she shouted down the house._

_"CLAIMED!" he heard shouted back in a familiar, thick voice. Merle came running up the hall, his feet making loud, ungraceful "thuds". His older brother ran into the kitchen, taking the plate Beth was holding. He slung his arm around her._

_"Little Greene!" he said._

_"That was mine!" she complained, trying to grab the food back from him._

_"Oh come on, you ain't gonna miss it while it's gone! Ain't that right, Baby Brother?"_

_"Hmm?" Daryl asked, waching the scene._

_"Ignore him," Beth said, bringing him over a plate of food._

_"What'd you make?" Daryl asked her. She set the plate in front of him._

_"Strawberry pancakes with cinnamon and cooked rattle snake! Your favorite, right?" she asked, giving him a chaste kiss on the lips before sitting in her own spot._

_"I'm eating," Merle complained. "By the way I invited a few friends over."_

_"Not with her here, man. What kinda friends-," Daryl began. He stopped when he took a look around and saw who popped into the scene. Dale, Hershel, Shane, and Lori were sitting at the suddenly larger table._

_"Oh if I had known y'all were comin by I would have made more!" Beth said._

_"Oh no thanks, honey," Lori said, "Snake is kind of a Dixon thing."_

_"How about you, daddy?"_

_"No I'm fine sweetheart, thank you," Hershel answered. He had a thin pink scar where the sword connected with his neck._

_"Daryl, let me ask you something, man," Shane started._

_"Oh come on Shane not now. We're eating a nice breakfast made by this girl; there's no need for all that," Dale said._

_"Nah nah, see this here needs to be said. Let me tell you somethin, Daryl. You had a stick up your ass about not leavin Sophia behind, but, what, less than a week after Beth's gone missin and you're holed up in some train car?"_

_"You mean you ain't found her, yet!?" Merle asked, slamming a fist on the table._

_"Nope!" Beth said, mouth popping at the 'p'._

_"I thought I taught you better than that, Baby Brother," Merle said, shaking his head._

_"It ain't that simple!" Daryl said._

_"It is that simple, man. Ya either find her or ya don't. That's the mission," Shane said, putting his arm around the back of Lori's chair._

_"Now back down. It's not like he's had a whole lotta time," Lori said, getting up._

_"Time enough to go play hunter with them dicks in leather!" Merle shouted, for once on Shane's side._

_"Oh, Lori, you're…" Beth said, gesturing to the blood flowing profusely from her C-Section cut._

_"Oh, shit, Beth I'm sorry. And in such a lovely home too… Just tell me where the towels are and I'll clean this up," Lori apologized._

_"No, no, don't worry about it! I'll get 'em," Beth said as she left for the linen closet- anything to get out of that conversation._

_"Hershel, what do you think? You are the girl's father, after all," Dale said._

_"Daryl… I need you to find my Beth. She's scared and alone and a few days of crossbow training isn't going to do too much against what's out there. What happens if she comes across a group of men like those ones that tried to hurt Carl?" Hershel asked._

_"Can't you tell me where she is? Ain't you all knowing? Being, y'know…" Daryl trailed off._

_"What? Dead? That's not exactly how it works," Lori said with a small laugh._

_"Then how the hell am I supposed to get her trapped in that place without some fucking help!?" Daryl shouted out, finally pushed too far._

_"How about a little motivation instead?" Shane said._

_"What are you talkin about?" Daryl asked._

_"Well… she's here, ain't she?" Shane said._

_"What do you mean?"_

_"She's sittin around eating breakfast with a bunch of dead people and you don't think that calls for a little haste? Wow, I'm glad Rick replaced me with you… you're a smart one, ain't ya?" Shane antagonized._

_"Don't you mention that name in this house," Merle growled._

_"Leave Rick out of this!" Lori said. Beth returned with a stack of fluffy, white towels. She crouched beside Lori, wiping up the blood._

_"Remember when I was wearin that nice, white sweater and ya got walker blood all over it?" Beth asked Daryl as she cleaned._

_"Yeah…"_

_"I'm glad you did," she said._

_"What do ya mean?"_

_"Nothing. I just miss you. When I said you'd be the last one standin, you know, I wasn't tellin the truth. I wanted to be there with you," she said._

_"I'm glad you ain't. I don't know how Rick's gonna get us out of this one," Daryl mumbled._

_"Maybe he can handcuff that Gareth kid to a roof. That'll solve all his problems," Merle huffed._

_"Daryl, I'd hate to take Shane's side on… well anything. But he's got a point. Beth needs you," Dale said with a fatherly tone that made Daryl want to puke._

_"I'm sittin right here!" she spat at all of them, standing up, abandoning her furious scrubbing with the towels. "And I think I should have some say before y'all start pickin on Daryl!"_

_"Well what do you think then, sweetheart? I've always believed you were mature enough to make your own choices," Hershel said. Beth walked over to Daryl, pulling up a chair to sit right in front of him._

_"Forget all these people here for a minute. Just focus on me," she said warmly. He looked right into her eyes, and she put her hand on his cheek._

_"This is our home," she said._

_"I know."_

_"And these last few nights here with you have been great," she said._

_"Me too."_

_"But… I need you to find me Daryl. I care for you, you know that. But we've got a conversation to finish. I miss Judith and Maggie and Carol. Yes, Merle is a great roommate, but I wanna go home. Home is with you, and I need to go home. I need you to wake up."_

_"Wait, what?"_

_"I need you to wake up, Daryl. Wake up. Wake up," she said, pressing her forehead to his._

* * *

"Wake up, Daryl, it's just a nightmare," a voice said. He jolted up, finding a pair of beautiful green eyes and similar features to those he was seeing, but not exact.

"Beth?" he asked, half-delirious.

"No… it's Maggie," she said.

"We gotta find her! She's out there and we ain't even tryin!" he shouted. The rest of the people in the car turned to watch the sight.

Maggie put an uncomfortable hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Daryl, we will," she said. She looked confused. Wasn't she supposed to be the most distraught one around here?

Daryl gave her a curt nod when he realized everyone was looking. He stood up, and walked over to Rick, sitting by the one he knew wouldn't ask him any questions. Maggie found her place with Glenn, thinking. Abraham, whose watch was starting, leaned over to the couple.

"Beth? That his wife?" he asked them. Maggie opened her mouth to respond, but closed it, pondering in the darkness.

A/N: Reviews make my day!


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